Something to Live For
by Wanna Bet-the original
Summary: Edward Masen is 17,ready to fight in the Great War because he doesn’t have anything left to live for.That is before a beautiful new tenant shows up at his Boarding House.Will his ideas be changed by this mysterious stranger?T:mild violence-BxE-ALL HUMAN
1. Nothing to Live for, Nothing to Lose

**Disclaimer: I do not own _Twilight _or its beautiful characters. I do, however, own Mrs. Ryland. She is all mine! (that sounded unnecessarily creepy...)**

**Full Summary: I got the idea while re-reading Eclipse, when Edward was telling Bella about why he wanted to marry her. Edward Masen is 17, ready to fight in the Great War because he doesn't have anything left to live for. Or so he thought before a beautiful new tenant showed up at his Boarding House. Will his ideas on the war be changed by this mysterious stranger?**

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I had heard the speech several times before. But that didn't make its affect that much different. It made me want to join the fighting right then and there; to hop on the next ship and sail across the sea to fight against the Central powers. It was June 1918, I was soon to be 17 years old and anxious to join the fight. I had lost my mother and father to an earlier outbreak of the Spanish Influenza, but I had miraculously survived. Part of my mind realized that me surviving this terrible epidemic had given me an immortality complex that made me anxious to fight, but at the same time, I had nothing left in this world. Why shouldn't I put my life on the line to fight for my country?

I had lied about my age when my parents had died, telling them I was 18 so that I wouldn't become a ward of the state and could go on my own. That was how I had wound up renting a room at the Ryland Boarding House in the cheap side of Chicago. The Masen's may have been well off when my mother and father had died, but I had never been one for flashy uptown addresses. I preferred to save my money in case I ever really needed it. As I entered the house, I ran my hand through my tossled, bronze hair, trying to make myself look presentable. I was met by the warm gaze of Mrs. Ryland, a stout woman of about 60, who greeted me with a warm smile as she bustled around the dining room table, setting it for dinner.

"You need my help, Mrs. Ryland?" I asked, flashing my crooked smile at her, which I sensed made her day every time.

"No, no, no, Edward," she in reply, blushing ever so slightly, "You just go ahead and get washed up. Dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes. You'll get to meet our new tenant, fresh out from Arizona."

"Well, Mrs. Ryland, since you won't let me help you set the table, how about you let me help you with the dishes? I don't like the idea of you working so hard when there are other people here to help you."

She smiled at me. "That would be very kind of you, Edward. Thank you."

Mrs. Ryland was a dear creature to me. I felt very bad for her and empathized with her. The Influenza had taken her husband and only daughter, while the war had taken her twin sons. She was as alone in this world as I was.

I popped my head in the parlor before I headed up the stairs to my room.

"Good Evening, Major Whitlock. Any good news today?" I asked the only resident of the room.

He looked over his newspaper at me. "Not much, Masen," he addressed me in his southern drawl, "jJust more gruesome news from the European Front. We are finally beating them, but at a loss of men. I tell you what, if the South had won That War, we would have whooped these men in no time at all. Mark my words, my boy, THE SOUTH WILL RISE AGAIN."

"Yes, sir, Major Whitlock." I saluted him once his paper was safely back in front of his face and he couldn't see me. Major Jasper Whitlock had to be at least 60 years old and an old Confederate soldier from the Civil War. He firmly believed that the South would rise back up against us "poor, defenseless Yanks" when we least expected it and that the Southern Gentlemen were simply biding their time. We put up with his crazy rants for the pure entertainment they brought all of us in the house.

I took the steps two at a time, heading for my room. I didn't know why, but I had a good feeling about today.

I came down to dinner 30 minutes later, tying my tie as I headed down the stairs. As I entered the dining room , I noticed I was the last resident to do so.

That was the first time I saw her. Sitting on the left side of the table, next to the seat where Mrs. Ryland sat at the head of the table, was the most beautiful creature I had ever beheld. Part of me thought she must have fallen from heaven, not Arizona. This must be the new tenant Mrs. Ryland had told me about. She smiled, knowingly at me, when she saw the direction of my gaze. How could she have known that this beautiful woman would catch my eye? I thought I was particularly gifted at reading people. Mrs. Ryland, apparently, was better.

"Ah! Mr. Masen!" She exclaimed, rising from her seat as I came in. "I am afraid the only seat we have left is next to our new tenant, Mrs. Newton. Isabella Newton, I would like you to meet Mr. Edward Masen."

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**So what do you think so far? Like it? Don't like it? Review it and let me know!!**


	2. Gossips

**DISCLAIMER: None of the characters or _Twilight _is mine. As sad as that may, it's the truth. Mrs. Ryland is entirely my creation. The rest are Mrs. Meyer's, adapted for my purposes of course.**

**A/N: Well, I had no interest in adding another chapter tonight, but I did. I must really like you guys. It's still not as long as I usually do. Maybe they will grow tomorrow when I am rested.**

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I sat through dinner next to Mrs. Newton (whose title, I must admit, threw me. But a woman this beautiful, I thought to myself – how could she not be married), but she never said more than a dozen words through dinner. She only spoke when prompted and to pay her compliments to Mrs. Ryland for her delicious roast. I spent most of the dinner sneaking side glances at the angel seated beside me, trying very hard to not reach over and tuck the brown curl that had come loose from her bun and tuck it behind her ear. These urges were new to me. I had never felt this way about a woman before. But then again, I had never been in the presence of an angel.

As promised, when the meal was finished I helped Mrs. Ryland clear the table and followed her into the kitchen with a stack of dishes. She began running the water over them and washing them while I dried them. Through the window to that looked into the dining room from the kitchen sink, I could see Mrs. Newton wandering around, running her hand along the mantle of the fireplace her gaze resting upon the only picture it contained, one of the many family pictures Mrs. Ryland had throughout the house as to always remember the family she lost. When she saw me looking at her, she quickly bowed her head and ducked out of the room.

"Mrs. Ryland?" I asked rather sheepishly. "What's her story?" Mrs. Ryland looked up from the plate she was scrubbing and followed my gaze where I was watching her in the doorway of the living room, watching all the other residents play cards and such as they always did after dinner.

"Why do you ask?" Mrs. Ryland asked, smiling at me wryly.

"Just curious about my new neighbor. I mean, she did move into the room across from mine, didn't she?" I flashed my crooked smile at her and I knew she would tell me what I wanted to know. Mrs. Ryland was a terrible gossip.

"Well," she began, dropping her voice to a whisper, "She was living in Arizona – Phoenix I think – and she was living out there with her husband, Michael I think she said her name was. They had dated all throughout his years in school and when we entered the war, he enlisted. They got married before he was shipped off. He was killed in battle and she became a war widow. She couldn't stay in Phoenix. Everywhere she went she was reminded of him. So she moved to a city she could get lost in. She figured Chicago was as good as any other."

I nodded. A war widow. She couldn't be more than 18 and she was already a widow. I saw again the horrors of this war. It was so different than the glory they had been selling the recruits in the streets this afternoon. They had made the war sound so glorious, but they failed to show us all the hurt we would leave behind, people like Mrs. Ryland and Isabella Newton. Maybe war wasn't what I should be after after all.

We did the rest of the dishes in silence. When we were finished, I left the kitchen, peering into the living room as I always did. I never joined in the party after dinner, but I loved to watch them. People were so predictable. They rarely surprised me.

I saw Mrs. Newton on the couch with Major Whitlock, who was telling her how the South would one day rise up again and overthrow the Yankee hoard. I could see she was stifling a yawn, but her politeness was winning out over her boredom. I chuckled to myself as I went up the stairs, part of me glad I was no longer the new tenant with which Major Whitlock felt compelled to share all his Confederate stories.

I reached my room and left the door open just enough that I would be able to see when Mrs. Newton came to her room. I wasn't being nosy. I just wanted to be a good neighbor and introduce myself properly, like a gentleman.

Okay, I wanted to be able to properly spend time with her one and one and there were not many ways that was possible.

I positioned myself on my bed so I would be able to see when she came to her door out of my peripheral vision and opened my copy of _The Old Front Line_, which detailed an attack by the British Army in 1916. I found it fascinating. I wasn't too deep into it when I saw her quietly going into her room, not making any noise at all. I bounded from my bed and to the doorway of my own room.

"Mrs. Newton!" I said, before she had closed the door all the way. There was a pause before it opened again, only enough so that I could see the face of my angel. But that face was enough.

"Mrs. Newton, I just wanted the chance to introduce myself properly. My name is Edward Masen. I've lived in Chicago all my life and would be happy to tell or show you anything you would ever need to know about the city."

Her eyes were downcast as I spoke. I hunched down to try and meet them, but that only made her withdraw further.

"Thank you Mr. Masen." She whispered, almost inaudibly. And without another word she closed her door and I heard the deadbolt lock.

I stared at the closed door, mostly puzzled, but slightly hurt too.

People didn't often surprise me, especially not women. But this one did. In fact, she did more than that.

She scared the heck out of me.

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**So I did some math after I put up the last chapter. Jasper should be close to 70. Not 60. Also, the book Edward is reading actually exists, though I can only imagine how dry a read it is. I want to hear from you, your thoughts so far. I would love to wake up tomorrow and have an inbox full of reviews. **

**So, now that I have done my part, it is your turn to do yours. REVIEW!! For those of you who have never reviewed for me before, I reply to all of them, good and bad. And I thrive on hearing from you all. **


	3. Unemployed

**Disclaimer: _Twilight _and all related characters belong to the wonderful Stephenie Meyer. I have simply altered their situations.**

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The next day dawned unspectacularly, just like everyone before it. After running my comb through my hair and dressing in my suit for the day so that I could go out and try to find a job, I went downstairs to the kitchen. As I bounded through the doorway of the dining room, not paying much attention at all to where I was going, I collided directly with someone, knocking us both to the ground.

"I am so sorry," I said, instantly looking at the figure beside me on the ground. It was Mrs. Newton. "-ma'am." I completed the sentiment with the correct respective address. I got to my feet quickly and offered her a hand up which she graciously accepted.

"It's quite all right Mr. Masen. I must have been lost in thought-"

"Oh, no, Mrs. Newton, that was my fault. I wasn't paying any attention to where I was going. I will try to be more careful in the future."

I flashed my crooked smile at her which she met with a weak one of her own. Then she cast her eyes down again and walked quickly for the stairs heading back upstairs. I leaned around the doorframe, watching her until she disappeared around the corner of the landing, my grin unfaltering as I watched her.

When I turned to face the interior of the dining room, I saw Mrs. Ryland standing at the sink looking at me. She had, no doubt, seen the whole thing. I didn't let my grin falter, but simply continued my path to the kitchen as though nothing had happened.

"Good Morning, Mrs. Ryland." I said, smiling at her.

"Morning, Mr. Masen. Sleep well?"

"Yes I did Mrs. Ryland. How about yourself?"

"Every day I wake up makes it a good night's sleep and a good morning."

"Now, now, now, Mrs. Ryland. There is no need for talk like that. Especially this early in the morning. You aren't a day over, what? 30?" I asked, flashing my crooked smile at her, knowing very well she was twice that old.

She blushed under my gaze as I took a muffin from the plate beside her at the sink. Then I gracefully loped out of the kitchen and back into the dining room.

"Wish me luck Mrs. Ryland!" I called, as I spun around in the dining room doorway to face her again. "I am off to search for a job again. A few more days like I have been having though, I will have no choice left to me but to enlist!"

Mrs. Ryland frowned at my comment. She didn't like the idea of me enlisting. She had told me on several occasions that she didn't want to lose another son. "Good Luck Edward," she called after me. And I knew she meant it.

I returned to the house at about 4 that afternoon the same way I had left – unemployed. But for some reason, the spring in my step had not diminished. Some nagging part of my mind thought that this had something to do with the new resident in 204, but the more rational part of my mind kept telling me that Chicago was a large city and I was bound to find gainful employment. I really didn't want to enlist unless it was a final option. I couldn't do that to Mrs. Ryland.

I sat beside Mrs. Newton again at dinner that night, Mrs. Ryland's contriving once again. She smiled at me when I sat down beside her, but still did not speak unless pointedly asked a question and only offered one or two word answers then. After dinner she was wrangled into the parlor once again by Mr. Whitlock who wanted to tell her about the Battle of Galveston. I helped Mrs. Ryland with the dishes again. Tonight we did them in silence.

After dinner, I went upstairs again and positioned myself on the bed the same as I had last night so that I could see across the hall to the door. I hadn't read a page before she appeared at her door.

"Goodnight Mrs. Newton." I called from the bed, smiling slyly as I looked at her over the top of my book.

She stopped with one hand on her door and paused briefly. Then she turned and crossed the hall, appearing in my doorway.

"Mr. Masen?" she asked, rather timidly.

"Please call me Edward. What can I do for you?"

"Mrs. Ryland mentioned that you would probably be going job hunting again tomorrow and I was wondering if I could go with you. I don't know the city that well, and really would hate to get lost."

"Of course, Mrs. Newton. I would be honored."

"Isabella," she whispered almost silently.

"Beg pardon?"

"You can call me Isabella, or Bella even. Just please stop calling me Mrs. Newton. It only reminds me of my late husband."

"Of course." I nodded. "Goodnight Bella. I will see you in the morning."

She smiled warmly and closed my door behind her. Once I heard the latch click, I leaned back and stared at the ceiling, smiling.

Tomorrow would be a good day.

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**A/N: Sorry-no more chapters until tomorrow evening. I have a final tomorrow that I must pay my attentions to. Wish me luck!!**

**So what did you think? Review it and let me know, ok?**


	4. A Day in the City

**Disclaimer: I don't own _Twilight _or it's characters (gosh darn it). They belong to Stephenie Meyer, who I am not (gosh darn it). **

**A/N: Thanks to all the well wishes on my final. I think it went well. crosses fingers**

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I wasn't disappointed. It was a good day. However, I had a different definition of a good day than most people. And I definitely had a different one than Mrs. Newton – Bella. She couldn't understand why I was still walking with a slight spring in my step and a smile on my face at lunch. We were eating turkey sandwiches we had picked up from a deli on a bench which overlooked the bay, watching the boats go through the locks to get onto the lake. She didn't seem to understand, and I wasn't yet willing to explain to her that being in her very presence was intoxicating. She was the reason for my good mood. I didn't care if we found jobs today.

As a matter of fact, I hoped we didn't because that meant I would probably get to spend all day tomorrow with her. And that thought excited me even more.

"Can I ask you a question, Bella?"

"Yes Edward?"

"Why did you choose Chicago? Surely there are big cities closer to Phoenix."

"I don't know. I knew I had to get out of Phoenix after…after I buried Michael. I didn't really have any destination in mind when I got to the train station. It was almost an accident. The next train leaving was to Chicago and I got on it." She wasn't looking at me as she said this, but now she turned to me. "I am glad I did though. I have made some really good friends." She smiled at me and I smiled back.

I began crumbling up my sandwich wrapper and began searching for the nearest garbage can. I found one about five feet away and put my hand out to take her trash for her. She balled it up and handed it to me and then rose to walk with me to the barrel and continue on our search.

We were unsuccessful in our quest as we walked back to the house around twilight.

"Shall we do this again tomorrow, Bella?"

"I would say we have to, Edward. I need the work."

I smiled at her agreement and the thought of spending another day with her. I quickened my step a bit to get to the door before her, so I could hold it open for her. She nodded in acknowledgement and thank you at my gentlemanly gesture, seeming to smile to herself. I wonder if this gesture reminded her of her husband. And I wondered if that made her sad.

I couldn't read her. And that frustrated me. I was usually very perceptive, but with her, I just came up blank.

Mrs. Ryland was setting the table for dinner when the two of walked in. Bella nodded in response to Mrs. Ryland's greeting before heading up the stairs to her room before dinner. I, however, leaned against the doorway of the room, folding my arms across my chest.

"How did the searching go?"

"No luck."

"Well, I guess you two will just have to go back out again tomorrow."

I smiled at her slyly. "We've already made plans to."

"Good." She straightened up and went back into the kitchen. I followed her, moving to lean in the kitchen doorway as she worked at preparing our dinner.

"Why do you care so much Mrs. Ryland?" I asked, grinning at her.

"No reason."

"Sure. What's for supper?"

"Turkey and mashed potatoes with green beans."

"Sounds excellent. I am going to go wash up."

Mrs. Ryland only nodded at the stove as I turned and walked out of the dining room and up the stairs, popping my head into the living room as I always did before I went up. Major Whitlock was slumped in his chair, snoring and mumbling "The south will rise" in his sleep.

I just shook my head at the entertaining old man as I made my way up the stairs. I pushed my door open and was about to walk inside when I heard a small sob. I whipped my head around and saw that Bella's door was slightly ajar. I crossed the hall and peered into the room to see Bella sitting on the side of her bed with her back to me. She was holding a picture frame and crying into her free hand.

I felt compelled to move and to comfort her, but at that moment Mrs. Ryland rang the bell that signified that dinner was ready. I saw Bella straighten up and put the picture back on the table while wiping her eyes, her back still to me. I took this opportunity to make my way back to my room so she wouldn't know I had seen her. I waited for her to leave her room before I went out myself. She still hadn't closed her door all the way. I pushed the door open enough that I could see the table where the picture now resided. I instantly recognized Bella in a white gown standing next to a man in uniform who must have been her husband.

I felt bad for her, feeling somewhat responsible for this emotional outburst. I would have to find some way to make it up to her, I though as I bounded down the stairs and took up what seemed to have become my normal seat beside Bella. She smiled weakly at me when I sat down and I smiled back at her with the largest grin I could muster.

After we said grace and began taking our food onto our plates, Mrs. Ryland addressed me.

"Mr. Masen, after dinner I need you to help me get another chair out of the cellar. We have a new tenant coming in tomorrow. I have finally rented out Mr. Drumm's old room."

"That's good Mrs. Ryland." I knew this meant she finally had a full house again. After dinner I helped her as she asked before heading up to my own room for the night. Bella said goodnight first that night. It was a wonderful feeling. And I fell asleep that night wondering what, and who, tomorrow would bring.

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**So, who do you think the visitor is going to be? Hmm? Review and tell me who you think it will be. I am curious to hear your thoughts. REVIEW!!**


	5. Newcomer

**Disclaimer: _Twlight _and all it's characters belong to Stephenie Meyer, who is not me. I only decided not to make them vampires...**

**A/N: The lines in bold are close to, if not directly from _Eclipse_. I take no credit for them, I just figured they would be cute in this contest.**

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When Bella and I set out on our job hunt the next day, the new tenant had not yet arrived. Mrs. Ryland told us as we left that she expected the newcomer on the noon train. She wanted us, if possible, to cut our afternoon short so that we could get to know the new tenant and make the new tenant feel welcome.

We didn't have to try hard to stop early, because after lunch, the clouds that had hung over the city all morning finally began to drop rain upon us. We were three blocks away from the house and ran as quickly as we could to get there as the rain began to fall heavier. We were drenched when we entered Mrs. Ryland's foyer, where she came bustling in after our entrance holding towels in her hands. We tried our best to dry off and Bella took down her hair and began ringing it in the towel before we both headed upstairs to change out of our wet clothes.

I was the first back down the stairs and went to sit in the living room with Major Whitlock. I picked up one of the discarded sections of his newspaper while sinking into the sofa and began to read. I had picked up the front page and read a story about us whipping the Germans in some battle. Bella came in a few minutes later, her hair repined, and sat on the other side of the sofa from me with a book in her hands. I snuck a peak at the cover. It was worn, but I could see from what wasn't covered by her hand it was written by Jane Austen.

I went back to my paper when there was a knock at the door.

"Oh, I'll get it. I have to get out of this chair every once in a while, so that I can be in top physical condition when the army calls me back up to command." Major Whitlock heaved himself out of his chair as another knock was on the door. He took his cane at his side as he walked very slowly to the door. I lost sight of him when he made it to the door, another knock on it occurring. This new tenant was obviously very impatient.

I heard the chain slide and the deadbolt being thrown back. I heard a soprano with a southern drawl address the major.

"**You kept me waitin' a long time.** I'm nearly soaked through."

I could imagine the major nodded his head in acknowledgement of the woman, **like the good southern gentlemen** he was.

"**I'm sorry ma'am" **I heard him drawl in his own Texas accent. I recognized that their accents were different and this new woman, while definitely from the south, didn't hail from the Major's Yellow Rose. I am sure that wouldn't matter to him. Another southerner in the house would just make his day.

The two of them came back into view, the newcomer with her arm through his, though it was unclear who was helping whom. She was short, maybe five feet tall, with equally short, dark hair that was dripping onto her shoulders.

She wasn't exaggerating. She was nearly soaked through. She didn't look much more than 17.

Bella and I both got to our feet at the same time to meet the newcomer.

"Edward Masen, ma'am," I said, extending my hand to her which she took with a smile.

"Mary Alice Brandon," she drawled. "But you can call me Alice."

"Isabella Newton. You can call me Bella." She also extended her hand, which Alice took.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both."

It was then that Mrs. Ryland came bustling in with another towel draped over her arm.

"Mary Alice?" she questioned the newcomer.

"Yes ma'am, but Alice will do just fine."

"I'm Mrs. Ryland dear. Here – so you can dry yourself off." She handed her the towel and Alice let go of the major's arm and began to dry off her hair and wet clothes.

"Did you have any bags dear?"

"No ma'am, just me. I guess I will have to do a bit of shopping soon. I hadn't really thought of that, but I don't mind shopping. I rather enjoy it." I could see a glint in Mrs. Ryland's curious eyes that suggested that she would be getting to the bottom of this mystery.

"Until you can get out, Alice," Bella said, "I'd be happy to lend you some of my clothes. They should fit well enough."

"Thank you Bella."

"Let's take you up there now and see what we can find so that you can get out of those wet clothes."

She took Alice's arm and headed for the stairs. I turned to look at them as they went up the stairs, and Bella turned back and smiled at me as they went. I smiled back before I turned to sit back with Major Whitlock's discarded paper. He had made his way back to his chair and picked up the paper he had been reading.

"See Masen? The south will rise again. The invasion has begun."

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**Congrats to Fatima-FireandIce, InLuvWithFictionalCharacters, Han Ji Eun and Bella Book Lover for correctly guessing that Alice would be the new tenant. Thanks to all who reviewed and guessed. I am glad you all are enjoying this. **

**REVIEW!! If you do, I may post another chapter today before I go see _The Dark Knight_. **


	6. The Story of Mary Alice

**DISCLAIMER: None of the characters or _Twilight _is mine. As sad as that may, it's the truth. Mrs. Ryland is entirely my creation. The rest are Mrs. Meyer's, adapted for my purposes of course.**

**A/N: There aren't spelling errors in this. I am writing in a southern dialect. Okay, is everyone sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin. (Cookies if you can guess that reference).**

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That night, dinner was exciting. The major and Alice jabbered back and forth about the southland while Mrs. Ryland, Bella, and I ate in silence. After dinner, I did something I never did. I sat in the parlor with the other residents. Alice was a compelling creature. She was so chipper and I had never heard a southerner talk as quickly as she did. Sometimes, I had trouble keeping up.

"Where are you from, Alice?" Bella asked, curious.

"Mississippi. Biloxi, Mississippi."

"How did you wind up in Chicago?" I asked.

Alice stared at me. She seemed to be wondering why I had asked her that particular question.

"Come, come now darlin'" Major Whitlock drawled, using his cane to playfully whack at Alice's ankles. She looked at him, as did we all. "We have no secrets here. And even if we did, there is nothin' you could say to me that would shock me!" He grinned at her and Bella and I chuckled.

"Well, a'right. I'm a runaway. But I din't run away from home." She seemed to wait for the shock to come across our faces. But so far, there was none. All of the residents of this house were running from something.

"When I was 13 years old, I started to be…diffren'. I started to…see things. Things that weren't happenin', but were goin' to happen. Like, the future.

"My parents were high up in Biloxi society, and something like me would knock 'em down. So they locked me away in an asylum. I spent four years in the dark, dank cell by myself.

"There was an old man – a janitor of sorts. He…befriended me, kept me safe. He brought me extra food, and kept me company sometimes. He neva let them take me for the treatments too often. Then one night last week, he left my door open. I snuck outta my room and he was at the end of the hallway. He helped me escape. Told me to go anywhere, run an' start over.

"Daddy's an architect. He always had pictures up of famous buildings, and the one I always was fascinated by as a child was the Home Insurance Buildin' in Chicago – the world's first skyscraper. So I decided now was as good a time as any to see for myself. Chicago is certainly big enough that if anyone cared enough to try an' find me they would. But when my parents put me in that place, they told all their friends I had died. So I don' expect _them _to care."

She looked around the room at all of us, expecting possibly shock and disgust. She got the shock all right, but also pity. How could any parent do that to their child? I saw Bella move her hand to her face to wipe away the tears that had no doubt formed there. The major was the first to say anything after her story was finished.

"Well, madam, you are among friends now. And I, Major Jasper Whitlock of the Texas 107th Confederate unit swear to protect you from anything that dares to take you against your will. Us, southerners have to stick together if we are going to stand up to the Yanks." He looked at me.

I held my hands up in surrender. "Sorry my parents were living in Chicago when I was born. I'll tell them the next time I see them they should have been living south of the Mason-Dixon."

"You do that boy. But I should think I will be seeing them a lot sooner than you will."

Alice looked puzzled as she looked from the major to myself.

"My parents were killed in an outbreak of the Spanish Influenza." I said matter-of-factly.

"Oh. I am sorry about that Edward."

"What about you Bella?" Alice asked, curious about her new friends, the sparkle returning to her eyes.

Bella took a deep breath.

"My husband was killed overseas. After I buried him in Arizona, I went to the bus station and got on the next bus that was leaving. It brought to Chicago."

She smiled at Alice, who reached across the sofa to take hold of one of the hands in Bella's lap, which she gave a reassuring squeeze.

"That just leaves the major, then."

"Oh-ho!" I couldn't help laugh boisterously, as I sunk into the other armchair in the room. "Major Whitlock, why you tell these fine young ladies how a southern gentleman such as yourself wound up deep in Yankee country."

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**So what did you think? There will probably not be another chapter tonight, as I am going to pay my final respects to Mr. Ledger moment of silence. (winks at thrufirewithoutaburn)**

**Again, a cookie if you can guess the reference made in the Author's Note at the top. I will post a link to it in my profile at the next chapter. Let's all go see Batman now, k? k.**


	7. The Major's story

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DISCLAIMER: I don't own _Twilight_, and all that that entails.

**I am very disappointed in all of you. The reference from the beginning of last chapter in from an episode of Doctor Who called _The Idiot's Lantern_. There is a link to the exact reference in my profile.**

**A/N: Before you read, from last chapter: Edward is not a mean person. I just didn't know what Jasper's story would be when I ended the last chapter. He just knows that he doesn't like telling it, which is why he was laughing. Not because he thinks this story is funny. **

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The Major glared at me. I knew it was a story he didn't much care for telling. But I also knew he could not refuse two beautiful women, one of them a southern lady.

"Now, now , surely I can tell you all a more interesting story: The Battle for Galveston, the time General Lee came into my camp and I shined his shoes, or how I killed 50 Yankees with my bear hands."

"No, no, Major, we are sharing how we got to Chicago tonight. And when you told me that story, you had only killed 12 Yankees with your bear hands. Have you been sneaking off and killing more?"

Alice and Bella chuckled while the Major fumed.

"Fine." He spat. I grinned. I loved this particular story, but not because of it's ending.

"When the war ended in 1865, I returned home to the Yellow Rose and found my ancestral home devastated and all my kin dead and buried in my absence. There were no jobs going in town, so I began heading north, resolved to find work, but unwilling to cross the Mason-Dixon Line. I was in Kentucky when I met Rose. (**A/N: THIS IS NOT ROSALIE. She will be along later.)**

"Rose was the oldest daughter of a wealthy Northern Railroad Baron. She was set to marry another man, a rich southern oil tycoon who had been a Yankee sympathizer during the war. I was hired by her father to work as a mechanic in one of his depots. I'll never forget the first time we saw each other. I spotted her across a crowded room. She was visiting her father from New York. It was a week before her wedding. She saw me and smiled at me.

"Later that night, past the hours of propriety, she came searching me out. She told me that I looked like a kind southern gentleman and wanted to get out of her wedding. She had seen me that morning and fallen in love with me at first sight. She wanted to run away with me and elope, leaving her life of privilege behind us.

"We hopped aboard one of her own father's trains and came to Chicago. We came to Ryland's when Mrs. Ryland's father–in–law still ran the place. I woke up one morning, and she was gone."

"Did she leave you?" Alice asked, her eyes wide.

"What a scandalous suggestion! My wife was a lady. She had simply gone out for a morning walk. When she came back she informed me of the news that would change my life. She was with child.

"Nine months passed and she went into labor late one night. We sent for a doctor and I sat out in this very parlor, in this very chair, waiting to hear my baby's cry. It never came.

"The dawn was breaking through that window when the doctor came downstairs. My Rose had died in childbirth. And the baby had been born still. Both my wife and my child were gone from me. I stayed in 

Yankee territory because I knew I had nothing in the South, but if I stayed in Chicago, if I stayed in this house, I could hold on to part of Rose and my daughter forever. If I held on to this city, I would see her smiling face in my mind every once in a while."

I saw Bella once again move to wipe her eyes. Alice simply looked at Major Whitlock before reaching out and taking his hand in hers. It caused him to look up at her and I could see his eyes brimming with tears.

"That was a beautiful story, Major. Thank you for sharing it with us."

He smiled at her weakly before raising her hand to his lips and kissing it. "Thank you good lady."

"Well," Bella said, "I think I have had enough storytelling for one night. I am going to bed. Good night everyone."

Bella rose from her seat and I accompanied her to the stairs, standing in the doorway of the parlor as I watched her go up.

"You like her." Alice said, smiling wistfully.

"Beg pardon?" I said, turning my head and looking at her.

"You like her. And she likes you. But both of you are too afraid to act on your feelings."

"I don't know what you are talking about," I said defensively.

She rose from her seat, the major rising also, placing her arm in the crook of his elbow.

"As you wish," she replied still smiling, as the major escorted her past me. "But everyone seems to see it but you two. Goodnight Edward."

"Goodnight Masen." The major said.

"Goodnight Major Whitlock, Alice."

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**Ahh, the ever insightful Alice. Edward should really listen to her. So what did you all think. The major married a Yankee! How about that? I want to hear from you all. So, review it already!**

**Oh, and before you get any dirty ideas-the major and Alice are not going to bed together. Ew! He is like 70 and she is 17.**


	8. Announcements

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DISCLAIMER: I don't own _Twilight _or its characters. I simply make them act foolishly and then have sense talked into them by old women of my creation and by pixies.

* * *

The next day, Alice pulled Bella off our job hunt to go clothes shopping with her, using the excuse that they needed to get to know each other better, being the only women in the house (besides Mrs. Ryland). So, I set out the next morning on my own as I had before Bella came along. I did this for two weeks, Alice and Bella finding some excuse to be together. In that time, Bella and I had continued to grow close, if by little, and Alice had become like a sister to me.

And, like all those mornings before it, I came back at about 4 that evening without a job. However, I was slightly excited. I had finally decided to do what I intended to do all along. And while I felt good about my decision, part of my mind was nagging at me for choosing to do it.

I sat at dinner, a lively event now with Alice chirping away about nothing in particular and Bella's laughter rang through the air at Alice's amusing stories, a melody whose tune I could get used to hearing.

I figured now was as good a time as any. I tapped my wine glass with my fork before getting to my feet. There were four pairs of eyes on me. "Everyone, I have an announcement to make." The eyes now looked at me expectantly. _What are you doing? Having you lost your mind?_ I questioned myself, now questioning all my decisions. Particularly the one I had made this afternoon.

"I am going to enlist!" I exclaimed, trying to sound enthusiastic when I was doubting myself now, unsure where this doubt was coming from. "I am going to Europe to fight the Germans!"

Shock and hurt spread across Bella's and Mrs. Ryland's faces, while confusion came across Alice's. The only one who seemed pleased about my announcement was the major.

He stood up and reached to shake my hand across the table. "Congratulations, Masen! You have finally become a man."

At that, Bella got to her feet, throwing her napkin on her plate of half eaten food.

"How could you?" she whispered, the tears welling in her reddening eyes. She rushed past me and out of the dining room, bounding up the stairs. I heard a door slam upstairs. Alice went chasing after her, shaking her head at me before she left the room. Mrs. Ryland began wordlessly clearing the table and the major made his way for his armchair to read his paper, muttering something the whole way, the only word distinct enough for me to catch was 'women'.

I took the wine glasses, all of them still mostly full, into the kitchen where Mrs. Ryland had already begun doing the dishes.

"What did I say?" I asked, honestly puzzled by the reactions to my news. "Is it really such a bad thing that I want to perform my duty to my country? To protect the people I love?"

The plate she was holding clattered into the sink full of water and soap as she looked up at me, as I stood a good head above her.

"Yes it is Edward. Because there are people here who love you. You may think that you lost everything when your parents died, but you didn't. You have me. You think I want to lose another son to enemy fire half a world away? To have another son die where there is no one to hold his hand and comfort him in his final moments?

"And you have Bella. How you can be so blind to how much she cares about you? You think she wants to lose another man she cares about to the Germans? Do you really think she can survive that again?"

I looked at the countertop, slightly ashamed at my selfishness. I had thought of nothing but honor and glory and the fact I had no one to leave behind. And in those thoughts, I had forgotten the people I cared for most in the world. I smacked myself in the forehead.

"That would be the action of a man coming to his senses. I suggest you go to her."

"Thank you Mrs. Ryland. For everything. It means a lot to me that you think of me that way."

"How could I not? You're the age of my boys when they left me. You're almost picking up where they left off."

I smiled at her before I darted out the door to go up the stairs. I headed straight for Bella's door, but I was met by Alice, who was closing the door quietly behind her. I met her hard gaze.

"She doesn't want to see you," she said, folding her arms across her chest. She looked rather intimidating, no matter how much larger than her I was.

"Alice, you don't understand. I have to make this right. I have to tell her I made a mistake. I have to-"

She held up a finger to stop me and then pulled me into my room, sitting cross legged on my bed while I pulled up a chair to the bed where she sat.

"You can't do this to her, Edward. It's killing her inside. She loves you. She never thought she would love again, and yet she finds herself loving you. It scared her at first, she felt like she was betraying Mike. But over the last few weeks I have helped her get over that. She is ready to love you. But tonight, you threw that all away. Tonight, when you made your announcement all she saw was Mike's last smile as he boarded the train and the salute of that army officer as he handed her an American flag. She saw you slip away, taking all of her happiness with you."

"That's just the point Alice. I realize I was foolish. I realize now I love her too. She is all I want. And I wouldn't leave her for the world."

"I suggest you tell her that." She said, getting up and heading for my door. She had reached for it's handle when I turned and spoke to her again.

"Alice, I need your help with that."

She turned to look at me, curiosity creeping into her eyes.

"I need you to keep her from noticing I'm gone. In about an hour, as twilight is hanging over the city, I want you to get her on the front porch. I'll meet you all there."

A smile spread across her face as if she knew what I was doing. Part didn't doubt that she did.

But part of me did wonder what Bella would do.

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**Considering how vivid the next scene is playing in my head, I may put it up tonight. But that's only if I am shown that you enjoyed this chapter. And the only way I can know that is if you REVIEW. **

**Yes...I have stooped to blackmailing you. I feel pathetic.**


	9. On the Front Porch

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DISCLAIMER: _Twilight _isn't mine. And everything that means...

**A/N: This chapter was inspired by the scene in **_**Eclipse **_**that inspired this entire story. It can be found on page 276-277 in my book (I have the SE of it) in Chapter 12. I know it's kinda confusing that a chapter is inspired as the same scene as the entire story, but this scene in particular is indebted to that scene. As always, Bold type is Stephenie Meyer's original, but I don't think it's from Eclipse (at least, not that I can find).**

**Enjoy! As you can see, I have no will power.**

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I had quickly dressed in my light brown suit, which looked great with my bronze hair. I tied my emerald green tie, which Alice had picked out to play off my eyes, quickly and pulled a small box out from under my socks in my dresser, before heading down the stairs. I saw Mrs. Ryland, who gave me a reassuring smile, a knowing look in her eyes.

I headed for the flower district, buying a bouquet of wildflowers I was sure that Bella would love. I checked my reflection in a store window as I got closer to returning to the house. I looked at my father's watch. I had been gone almost 50 minutes. Maybe Alice had gotten her out already.

I rounded the corner and saw her sitting on Mrs. Ryland's porch swing, still in her long skirt and high collared blouse, her hair still in a bun on top of her head. The entire picture was a rather sepia color in the twilight of the evening. She was looking out at nothing in particular. I climbed the front porch steps and got down on one knee before her, holding the flowers out to her. She took them warily, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Isabella," I began, hoping I looked as sincere as I felt. "I realized tonight, with a little help from some wise women, that I made the wrong decision today. I choose the wrong future because I didn't realize over the last few weeks, I have fallen in love with you. I wasn't planning on it. But I did.

"Isabella Marie Swan Newton – **I promise to love you forever. Every single day of forever. Will you marry me?**"

I fumbled around in the inside breast pocket of my suit coat looking for the box I had put there before I left the house. I took it out and popped it open, displaying a diamond ring. I held it out to her.

"It was my mother's." I said, as she looked at it, and then to me, the tears forming in her eyes, which reflected the sparkles the diamonds were giving off in the setting sun. She reached a hand out to touch it and then pulled back.

"Edward," she breathed. "I've only been a widow for a month."

"Do you love me? Because I love you. I have never felt this way before, and I don't think I will ever feel this way about anyone else."

"Please get up and sit with me," she said, gesturing to the seat beside her. I didn't like the turn this conversation had taken. In the nickelodeons I had seen, the woman was just supposed to say yes and 

throw her arms around you. She wasn't supposed to ask you to join you on the bench and offer an explanation for herself.

"I love you Edward. I have never felt this way before either." She seemed reluctant to say the next sentence to me. "Not even for Mike. He was my best friend growing up. I just figured I would marry before he went off to war because all my friends were getting married to their draftee sweethearts. I worry about what people will say."

"Where? You're not in Phoenix anymore. And no one in Chicago outside this house is going to care."

"I know that. But I feel like I would be disrespecting Mike's memory."

"Mike would want you to be happy, wouldn't he? Wouldn't you be disrespecting his memory even more if you died too? If you refused to continue living your life?"

She opened her mouth, but closed it again in defeat. Then she looked back down at the ring, still in the open box in my hand.

"So are you going to put that on me, or do I have to do it myself?" She grinned smugly at me and a smile spread across my face as I took my mother's ring out of the box and placed in on the third finger on her left hand. Then I took her face in my hands and pulled her forward, locking her lips in mine in our first kiss. My heart fluttered. I could not have imagined it being any better than that.

We were suddenly interrupted by Alice, who came bursting through the front door, squealing with excitement. She was followed my Mrs. Ryland and the major. They all offered us their congratulations. As Mrs. Ryland and Alice admired Bella's ring, Major Whitlock pulled me aside to the other side of the porch.

"I hope you two will be as happy as Rose and I were," he drawled. "However, I think you would have found the Germans more hospitable than women are on some days."

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**Sorry it's kind of short, but that's all I needed to happen in this chapter. I hope you all are enjoying it. I am enjoying writing it. I would really, really love to hear from you all. Without feedback I may stop writing this story...**


	10. On the Same Page

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own _Twilight..._sigh...**

**A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I didn't update yesterday. I meant to, but got a migraine. All I wanted was to sleep. So hopefully this chapter will make up for it!  
P.S.- I do my research. The dates are correct as is the station name that was used in 1918. I like facts. They're fun.**

* * *

An hour later, she hadn't changed her mind. She hadn't changed her mind the next day either. By the time a week went by, and she still hadn't backed out, I took it as a good sign. There was a renewed excitement in the house at the prospect of a wedding that was enhanced by the fact that Alice, Bella and myself all found jobs soon after the engagement. Sometimes things just work out.

We decided on a Christmas wedding. That made it over a year since Bella had been widowed. She thought that her friends back in Arizona would be all right with it then. I was okay with the long engagement. It made our wedding easier for her to plan, because she had more time. I also loved Chicago in the winter, and I loved her, so I got two of my loves in one packaged deal. That's the other reason I was okay with the long engagement. I knew in the end, I still got what I wanted and it didn't matter to me how long it took me to get it.

Thanksgiving came early that year, even earlier than it's 16th of November date. On the 11th of November, the guns were silenced in Europe. The Allies had won the war. It made us even more thankful that Thursday as we broke bread at our table and celebrated the little family we had formed in Ryland's Boarding House. We gave thanks for the peace in Europe, and the safe return of the boys we had left over there. We also gave thanks for new friends that the summer had brought and the happiness of me and Bella (it was Mrs. Ryland, not Bella or I).

December dawned before I could believe it had happened. I looked at the calendar one day and it was December 7th. Bella's parents, my future in-laws, were arriving the next day. I suddenly became very nervous. I hadn't asked her father's permission. What kind of gentleman was I? What if they hated me for that? They could still talk Bella out of the wedding. I could lose her. I don't think I could handle that, especially now that my fallback option was over.

Bella tried (unsuccessfully) to reassure me that they wouldn't hate me. But Mr. Swan was a police officer out west. Which meant he carried a gun. Which he could use to kill me. And being a police officer, they would never find my body. I'd probably become food for the fishes that lived in Lake Michigan. I wasn't particularly fond of that prospect.

24 hours went by too fast. As we walked to Illinois Central Depot, I fidgeted with my jacket and tie until Bella took my right hand in her left. I felt the cool band of her ring pressed against my palm. It made me calm down. I was suddenly reassured. She wouldn't leave me. I knew she wouldn't leave me.

We entered the station and went to the arrivals platform to wait for their train. We weren't there 10 minutes before Bella spotted them in a crowd of new arrivals. I straightened out my tie and smoothed my coat again as Bella ran to them and led them to where I was standing.

"Mom, Dad: I would like you to meet my fiancé, Edward Masen. Edward: This is my mother and father, Renee and Charles Swan."

I held my hand out and shook both of theirs, noticing that Bella's father's grip was very firm. He could probably kill a man with his bare hands. I felt the fear creeping back into my mind.

"Hello son. Feel free to call me Charlie."

"And you can call me Renee."

I nodded, my throat seeming to have closed on me. Renee was at Bella's side two seconds later and they began to walk in the direction of the exit. I offered to take one of the bags from Charlie, which he allowed me to do, and we followed the women outside, their heads together, no doubt talking about the wedding plans – or worse, me.

Charlie and I walked in silence. I wasn't sure if that was a good sign or not. I snuck a glance at him as we walked the two blocks to our house from the station. He looked deep in thought. I was conceded enough to think that it was about me. I feared he was planning 12 different ways that he could kill me. I found out soon enough that while he was thinking about me, he wasn't plotting my death. At least, not yet.

"We'll be in in a minute," Charlie called to Bella and Renee as they went into the house. I heard a squeal of excitement soon after then entered that could only come from Alice. It never ceased to amaze me how much noise that tiny being could emit.

"Edward, I just need to say one thing to you." I braced myself for his words. "Isabella is my only daughter. I have already seen her heart broken once. If you put her through any pain, I will personally make your life a living hell – do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, I love your daughter. I would never do anything to hurt her. I only want her to be happy."

"Very good son. Then we are on the same page." He clapped his hand on my shoulder and we walked up the porch steps together. "Then we are on the same page."

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**So, what did you all think? Did you believe Edward's reactions? I thought they seemed realistic. The same with Charlie's. But in the end, it really doesn't matter what I think. It matters what you, the reader, thinks. And the only way I can find out what you think is to tell me by REVIEWING!!**


	11. Christmas Eve, 1918

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Twilight...sigh...**

**A/N: So, umm, thanks to Enigma Force for pointing out to me last chapter that I accidently repeated that last line. What is the last line should be right. Charlie shouldn't have said it at the beginning of the paragraph too. Oops! I usually catch that stuff, but that must have slipped through the cracks.  
Also, I want to welcome any of you who have found me through **_**Dancing in a Minefield**_**, and thank Lily for mentioning this story at the end of hers. **

**Now, on with the show…**

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It was Christmas Eve. It was the day of the wedding. It was snowing. (**A/N: Christmas Eve 1918 is actually Chicago's snowiest Christmas Eve. A record 7.1 inches fell!)**

To most people, this would seem a disaster. Most people would freak out that it was snowing on their wedding day. But I had discovered in June when I first met her, that Isabella Marie Swan Newton wasn't most people. She seemed to delight in the snow.

"It doesn't snow that often in Arizona!" She exclaimed when she ran to the parlor window in her housecoat that morning. Our wedding was set for 7 that night. Bella hoped that the snow lasted until then. She thought it would look great in the wedding photos. And Alice agreed.

White, as she put it, goes with everything.

At four, Bella, Alice, Mrs. Ryland and Renee left to go to the church where they were going to get ready. Charlie, the major (who had graciously agreed to be my best man), and I were going to get ready in the house and then make our way to the church at 6. The horse-drawn carriage that would take us back to the house for our Christmas Eve dinner and then to the train station to take us to New York for our honeymoon would pick myself, the major and Charlie, up from the house to take us to the church.

When we got there I gave myself a once over in the mirror before meeting with the pastor and walking up to the church with him. The sanctuary wasn't full. The first two rows weren't even full. It was mostly people Bella or I worked with. They weren't necessarily our friends. Our friends were with us. These were just…acquaintances.

The pianist started playing Clair de Lune as Alice began her walk down the aisle. She looked stunning in her crimson dress, which greatly accentuated her black hair and dark eyes. Though the major straightened at her approach, I knew it was nothing. He viewed her as the granddaughter he never had and to her, it was the father she wished she had. But I only noticed Alice for who she walked in front of, the only woman I had eyes for that day.

Bella seemed to glow in as she glided toward me on Charlie's arm. She looked like an angel fallen from heaven. I couldn't believe I had ever gotten so lucky. When they arrived at where I stood with the major and the minister, I flashed her my crooked grin and she blushed a shade of scarlet akin to the color of Alice's dress.

"Who gives this woman in marriage?" the minister asked Charlie.

"I do," he replied before taking Bella's arm out of his and handing her over to me. Her left arm settled into the crook of my right elbow.

When I was asked, I placed the band on the third finger of her left hand until it met the engagement ring. (**A/N: It was not customary for a man to wear a wedding band until WW2**). Soon, the minister pronounced us man and wife. He asked me to kiss the bride. I turned and looked at Bella, who looked absolutely stunning.

I was happy to oblige him.

Then we turned to face the congregation as the minster presented us as Mr. and Mrs. Edward Masen.

As we receded back down the aisle and into the foyer of the church, where we waited for our guests to make it outside to throw rice at us as we got into our carriage, I wished, for the first time that day, that my parents had been there to witness me fulfill their biggest dream for me. I knew that they had been, in a manner of speaking, but I wanted to see my mother dab her eyes with her handkerchief as Renee did, and see my father put an arm around her to comfort her as Charlie had.

But they weren't there. So I focused on the happiness of the day. I looked down at my Bella and kissed her lightly on the lips before the front doors of the church were thrown open. As we ran down the steps that were lined with our friends and acquaintances, we were showered with rice from their hands and snow from the heavens. I took it as a sign that Mother and Father were there after all.

We went back to the house and Bella changed into the dress she would travel in. We all sat down to our early Christmas dinner and then opened our presents. After that was over, we hugged everyone goodbye and promised Mrs. Ryland, Alice and the major that we would be back in 2 weeks.

And then we were off to Niagara Falls.

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**YAY!! They got married. What kind of story would this be if that was the end all of the story? A not very good one, that's what. And since the people who have reviewed it think this is a good story, this is obviously not the ending.  
That logically makes sense. Just think about it for a minute. **

**If you haven't yet offered your opinion, what are you waiting for? I am personally waiting on you! I respond to all of them, and the more I get, the faster I write. But until then...I am going to go watch _21._**

**Ciao!**


	12. The Little Girl From Rochester

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own _Twilight..._or The Maid of the Mist...**

**A/N: The Maid of the Mist was established in the 1840s and became a tourist attraction in 1854. Also, I fudged Rose's birthday to get her older.**

* * *

It took us a little over 10 hours to make it to Rochester, NY. Then we took another train from Rochester to Niagara Falls. While we were boarding, Bella spotted the most beautiful little blond girl boarding the train. I saw Bella smile at the sight of her. I smiled too. The little girl was adorable. When she saw us looking, she waved and smiled before being ushered onto the boat by her nanny.

She slept on my shoulder on the almost 2 hour ride to Niagara. I watched the snow covered scenery go by part of the way. But, mostly – I watched my angel sleep. She was so beautiful asleep. At one point she mumbled something I didn't catch. When she did it again though, I caught it.

She was whispering Edward.

Every time she did it, my heart seemed to flutter. I really did love her.

We arrived to the train station and then proceeded to our hotel where we unpacked and … well, we were married now.

The next day we went of the Maid of the Mist tour of Niagara Falls. It was beautiful, not as beautiful as my Bella of course, but my Bella's beauty in this place magnified it even more.

On our way back into the harbor, as we were walking around the boat, hand-in-hand, we spotted the same little blond girl that had been boarding our train the day before. She was standing on the rail of the boat looking all around her excitedly. She caught sight of us and waved frantically at us again and we waved back. Then she got off the rail and skipped toward us.

"Hi!" she said, her voice matching the beautiful face it came out of. She had pale skin and blonde curls that fell to her shoulders. Her blue frock off set her blue eyes very well. "My name is Rosalie Hale. Who are you?"

"I'm Edward Masen and this is my wife Bella. How old are you Rosalie?"

"I just turned five. Mommy and Daddy sent me here with Nanny Lydia for my birthday. They stayed in Rochester."

"You're a very pretty girl Rosalie." Bella said, kneeling down to be at Rosalie's level.

"Thank you. This dress was a birthday gift from Daddy's boss, Mr. King. He told me blue brought out my eyes. And his son liked it too. Royce is such a gentleman."

"Rosalie!" we suddenly heard a woman yell as she came bustling around the bow of the boat. "Rosalie Lillian Hale, don't you ever run off like that again, you could fall over the side of the boat and I would never be able to find you. And your mommy and daddy would be very sad." The woman we assumed was Nanny Lydia came bustling over and picked up Rosalie and looked at us.

"I am sorry if she bothered you."

"Nanny Lydia, I wasn't bothering them. They were on our train yesterday!"

"She wasn't bothering us, ma'am, really. She is a very beautiful girl," Bella assured her.

"Yes she is. Come along Rosalie. It's almost time to go back to the hotel and take a nap."

I heard Rosalie whine that she wasn't tired as Nanny Lydia escorted her away. We sat down on a nearby bench as we docked in the harbor we had departed from. Bella leaned her head against my shoulder as all the passengers around us began making their way to the bow and stern exits.

"I want one of those." She sighed, as she looked at nothing in particular.

"A waterfall? I'll what I can do." I said, grinning.

"No, silly," she said, playfully slapping at the hand around her waist. "I want a baby. A little girl like that Rosalie."

"Do you want to be able to send her on vacations for her birthday with only her nanny? Because if that's the case, I need to find a new job when we get back to Chicago."

"Of course not. I want to be able to go on vacation with her for her birthday. But I want a baby Edward."

"Well, let's get back to the hotel and I will see what I can do."

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**I hope you enjoyed this chapter. It is going to get a bit more exciting, I promise. But at the same time, it's almost over.  
That's the good news. (Or bad news if you are particularly attached to this story).  
The bad news is I am going away for a week. I leaving this world and spending a week with my favorite vampires in Forks, which is code for I am going on vacay and will be without a computer and will be rereading all the Twilight books. And this story will probably not be finished before I leave. So I am sorry. After Friday, I will be back after I read Breaking Dawn to finish this story and undoubtedly start one about the events of Breaking Dawn. There will be a few more chapters after this one...REVIEW UNTIL THEN!!**


	13. Stranger from Columbus

**Hey guys! Sorry it's been so long. I went away and then came back and had to read Breaking Dawn (which I adored and have already begun reading again!) **

**So here it the next chapter. Keep in mind, I had this plotted out before BD was released…**

**A/N: I fudged Esme's dates too a bit. I figured you all wouldn't mind.**

* * *

It was 1919 when we got home. New Years Day 1919 to be exact.

Mrs. Ryland, Alice and the major were all overjoyed to see us. We were greeted to a new addition to the house as we entered the parlor waiting for dinner to be ready. As Bella and I walked into the parlor, we saw the new tenant sitting in an easy chair, staring intently into the fire, her back to us.

"Bella, Edward, I would like you to meet Esme Evenson. Mrs. Evenson, this is Edward and Isabella Masen. They live in the room across the hall."

Esme rose from her chair, her caramel hair falling at her shoulders. She turned to face us, and the first thing I would have noticed about her would have been the way her hair framed her face as it fell in cascading, soft waves, or the way her warm caramel eyes matched her hair exquisitely as they danced with reflections off the firelight.

Yes, all of these things made her beautiful. But that beauty was overshadowed by the deep purple bruises that covered the right side of her face and the exposed parts of her right arm. I heard a tiny gasp from beside me as I felt my own eyes widen in horror. Who could do such a thing to such a beauty?

"Mrs. Evenson is joining us from Columbus, Ohio. She is going to be here a few weeks before she goes to stay with her cousin in Milwalkee."

"Pleased to meet you Mrs. Evenson." Bella said, extending her hand to the woman. She seemed to flinch every time her name was mentioned.

"Call me Esme," she said, softly as she took Bella's hand, smiling very weakly.

"Bella." She responded, still smiling warmly.

"I'm Edward," I said, extending my hand much the same way as my Bella had. Esme eyed it warily then took it, hesitant about the entire action. I guessed the cause of her bruises. She had been hit by a man. We couldn't find out for certain though, because right as our handshake broke, Mrs. Ryland called us all into the dining room.

Mrs. Ryland made pot-roast and red potatoes. When we went to eat dessert in the parlor, it started. While we were crossing the hall, my hand gently around my beloved angel's waist, she stopped suddenly and put a hand to her mouth. She rushed out of my arms and into the bathroom in the hall, slamming the door behind her. I was a second too late.

"Bella?" I called, my anxiety growing as I heard her wretch from behind the closed door. "Bella, love? Darling? Are you all right?" Panic hedged in my last sentence as I heard her labored breathing as she wretched again.

"Yes." I heard her whisper, hoarse and weak. I tried the doorknob. It was unlocked.

"Can I come in?" I whispered through the door.

"Yes," I heard her whisper even more softly than the first.

It was that moment, as I entered the bathroom, that Esme too threw her hand over her mouth and ran for the stairs, for the other bathroom in the house. I heard her upstairs, the same noise coming from that bathroom as had just come from this one. I looked over my shoulder to see Alice rush up the stairs after Esme to make sure she was okay.

I got one of the towels from beside the sink and turned the faucet on, still on my knees beside Bella. I made sure the cool water was soaked into the towel, before folding it up and applying it to the back of Bella's neck.

She sighed. "That feels good." She slumped back, leaning into my chest. "I don't know what happened. One minute I was fine and the next I was about to be sick."

"Must have been something you ate. Esme was the same way."

"I need to lie down." She said weakly, curling further into my chest.

I picked her up gently in my arms, and her head lolled against my chest. I was immediately met by Mrs. Ryland when I stepped out into the hall.

"We're going to head on up to bed Mrs. Ryland. We'll see you in the morning."

"Please help Alice get Esme to bed too. Sometimes it's nice to have a man around here."

I smiled at her, knowing she was glad to have us home,

After I gently placed Bella in our bed, where she smiled at me weakly as I brushed a hair out of her face. Then she closed her eyes. I tiptoed out of the room and down to the bathroom, where I found Alice with Esme, trying to sooth her. Esme appeared to be crying.

Alice looked at me. "Help," She mouthed.

I motioned her aside as I went up behind Esme and picked her up, cradling her as I had Bella.

"No," she said, weakly beating against my chest, trying to get me to put her down. I wouldn't budge. I knew she wasn't strong enough to make it to her bed.

Her sobs were weak, but stronger than they had been in the bathroom as I placed her in her bed, pulling the blanket in the end up over her. Alice followed in swiftly behind us and sat on the edge of the bed, still trying to comfort the woman as she sobbed uncontrollably.

I stood looking at the scene from the doorway for a moment before walking across the hall and back into my own room. I gazed at my angel as she slept peacefully in our bed. I quietly got ready for bed and got into it as carefully as I could. I didn't wake her, but when I got settled, she rolled over and snuggled into my chest and sighed my name.

And even though she was sick, and I was worried, I was happy.

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**I hope you all didn't miss me too badly. But I am back and in full swing. I already have my next story lined up for when I finish this one. Leave your feedback. I want to know what you think!!**


	14. Mrs Evenson's story

**I LOVE MY READERS!! Just in case you all didn't already know that. I am sitting here watching **_**Enchanted **_**and have decided to write you all another chapter because I love you all so much. Don't ask me why I love you. I just do.**

**A/N: I fudged Esme's dates too a bit. I figured you all wouldn't mind.**

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The next morning, I awoke with an angel in my arms. 2 weeks in I still wasn't used to waking up with anything next to me, let alone the face of my angel. I truly loved my Bella. It was hard for me to imagine my life without her. I wondered how I had ever imagined a different life. I also wondered what would have happened if my parents had never died in that hospital. I would have never come to Ryland's and I would have never met the sleeping angel in my arms.

I had never been a religious man. But the serendipity involved in my fortune made me believe in a higher power.

As I was pondering how I had ever gotten so lucky, she stirred in my arms. She stretched her toes to the end of the bed, pulling her arms over her head before turning to face me. I refused to remove my arms from around her.

She blinked a few times in rapid succession trying to focus and then smiled at me.

"Good morning." She whispered.

"Good morning, my love." I replied, bending my head gently to kiss the tip of her nose. I pulled back again. "How are you feeling?"

"All right. It must have been something I ate. Or the full day of travel. I am a little hungry. Can we have breakfast?"

"Anything you want." I replied. I unwillingly unwrapped my arms from around her waist and she sat up and stepped behind the dressing screen in our room. When she emerged she had on a new dress for the day. She let her brown hair fall around her shoulders. I loved it when she left her hair down. Then, when she laughed, its curls would shake softly and fall in her face.

I, then, took my turn to dress for the day and when we were both ready, we walked downstairs hand in hand. Mrs. Ryland a plate of freshly baked muffins on the dining room table, but no one was in there. We heard the light, bell-like laughter of Alice come from across the hall and that's where we found everyone enjoying their morning coffee.

Everyone looked up, smiles beaming from whatever the major had just said, no doubt, as we entered the parlor and sat on the loveseat. Even Esme appeared to be in better spirits, her bruises fading. Her smile faded as her eyes met mine.

"I owe you an apology for last night Mr. Masen. I was out of line when you tried to help me."

"Don't think anything of it. I am sorry if I did anythi-"

"No, it was nothing you did. It was all me Mr. Masen."

"Edward, please."

"Edward." She looked down at her coffee, stirring it absentmindedly. "You look a lot like my husband, Edward. That was the most disturbing part of last night for me. Charles Evenson wasn't exactly a nice man."

She looked up at all of us and smiled weakly.

"I suppose I may as well tell you all. About a year and a half ago I married a man named Charles. My parents thought him suitable, and so the match was made. I figured I could learn to love him. But he wasn't a very good man. My mother told me to keep smiling and to go on with my life. Men like Charles didn't marry 22 year old women often. I should consider myself lucky someone swept me up, let alone a man as well off as Charles.

"I smiled at parties. I kept up the charade that we were happily married. Only he and I knew what really went on when we went home, because my mother didn't want to hear about it. I was thankful when he got drafted to go to Europe. I was free again. But then the war was over. He came home at the beginning of November. By the beginning of December he was hitting me again. By the middle of December I knew that I couldn't live there anymore. It took me a while to get all my plans together. On Christmas Eve I hopped on a train to Milwaukee to stay with my cousin. But we got stuck here in Chicago. So I wound up here."

Bella had reached across the arm of our loveseat to take her hand on the sofa where she squeezed it. Then suddenly she stiffened as the wind wafted the smell of everyone's coffee over to us. She was suddenly out of the room and I heard the door to the bathroom in the hall slam. I quickly got to my feet to follow her, but Esme caught my wrist as I went, flashing a knowing smile at me.

"She's lucky you care. Whenever I got sick, Charles would tell me if I got it all over the bathroom, I would have to clean it up. Then he would leave the house, unable to listen to me. You may want to get her to a doctor so that this can be officially handled. You two must be very happy."

I stared at Esme, confused. "What are you talking about?"

"In December, I was sick at the smell of food, just like your wife. I went to the doctor. And he told me the news that told me I have to run. If I had to guess, the same news that a doctor will give you two."

I shook my head, still unsure of what she meant, but sure I needed to get to my wife.

"Edward." She said, drawing my attention back to her. "I think your wife is pregnant."

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**Yeah, you all guessed correctly. But I bet you can't guess where this is going. I formulated the exact ending of this story this morning. I can't wait to get there. You all will love it too. I promise. **

**REVIEW!! I won't post another chapter if you don't...(yeah, like that's actually true.)**


	15. A Visitor from Columbus

**DISCLAIMER: That I forgot the last few chapters. I don't own Twilight...sigh...**

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Bella went to the doctor that day. Sure enough, Esme was right. My angel was going to have a baby. I suddenly saw the little blonde girl from Rochester becoming a reality, except that instead of blonde hair, it was bronze like mine and she had her mother's beautiful chocolate brown eyes. I saw the three of us in the park, the little girl on my shoulders, and Bella's right hand in my left.

Bella seemed very happy. She called her mother when we got home, utilizing several long distance operators along the way to connect her to Phoenix (**A/N: research is fun**), and was on the phone with her for a few hours. I was too happy to think about how much that call was going to cost.

My Bella was glowing. Esme smiled knowingly when we told our "family" that night. I accepted the well-wishes of everyone graciously. Mrs. Ryland cried, afraid this meant we would be moving out. I assured her that wasn't going to happen anytime soon, as long as no one minded a crying baby in the house. Everyone seemed too excited to care about that right now.

3 months went by without a hitch, except for the screaming that sometimes came from Esme's room in the middle of the night. She would tell us it was nothing when we came into the room. She had simply dreamed that Charles was back in her life. We swore to her that would never happen.

Bella was 4 months along while Esme was 5. It was nice for Bella to have Mrs. Ryland with her, since her mother couldn't get out of Arizona. Someone going through the same thing as her was helpful also. She and Esme were an unstoppable duo, with Alice by their side most days to go shopping for all sorts of supplies. Alice could shop for anything.

The three of them had coaxed Mrs. Ryland out of the house with them that day and it was just me and the major. I left him reading his paper to go out and get some flowers for my angel that morning about an hour after the girls left.

When I got back, I heard murmurs coming from the parlor, the major and another man's deep bass voice.

I walked into the parlor and froze in the doorway. Even without a description of Charles Evenson beyond that he looked like me, I recognized him right away. He looked exactly as I imagined he would. He looked charming and debonair, like the snake in the grass he was. I wanted to hit him. I had come to care for Esme like a sister and knew this man was here to only cause trouble in her life. I wouldn't have him upsetting her. It would only upset my wife as well.

"Ah! Masen! This is Mr. Charles Evenson visiting from Columbus. He seems to be searching for his wife who left him this past Christmas."

"Edward Masen." I said as cordially as I could, but leaving a slight bit of ice in my voice.

"Charles Evenson. I believe you know my wife. Esme?"

I shot a look at the Major, not believing that he had told Charles that Esme was here after what she had told us. (**A/N: Poor Jazz is senial. Give him a break**) I thought quickly as to what I could do. I couldn't rebuke the Major. Then one of us would be a liar in front of this man.

"Yes, I do. You're Charles then? Esme has told us all about you." I let the implications of that statement sink in as I remained standing in the doorway.

"I've come to take my wife home. She wasn't well when she left home. I have come to take her home and make sure she is well."

"She's been quite well in her time with us. And I would have to say that if she ran out of you, she no longer wanted to be your wife or share your home."

At that moment I heard the front door open and my heart sank to my feet. The girls were home. I had been hoping this wouldn't happen. But they always came home at lunchtime.

"Edward! We're home!" I heard my angel shout as she approached my frame in the doorway. I heard all four of them freeze in place when they got next to where I was standing. I heard a small gasp and a bag drop. I could only figure this was Esme's reaction at seeing the man who haunted her nightmares.

"Hello darling." Charles said sweetly. The snake in the grass came back to mind.

"Charles," she replied curtly. Bella and Alice stood in front of her. I hoped Charles couldn't see her stomach.

"I've come to take you home darling."

Mrs. Ryland moved to place a hand on Esme's shoulder. "I am home."

"Why you little-" Charles exclaimed as he made his way toward Esme. I stepped in front of the girls, protecting Bella as much as Esme.

"I don't think the lady wishes to leave with you, Mr. Evenson."

"She's my wife. I decide what is best for her."

"She stopped being your wife the moment she stepped out of your door."

Charles wheeled back his fist and it connected with my jaw. I stumbled from in front of the girls, trying to keep my footing. Bella clung to my side trying to steady me. She stepped out from in front of Esme. And I knew Charles saw her.

His eyes grew wide at the sight of her.

"You thought you could hide this from me?! I go off to war and come home to you, the woman I love, and you leave me because you're pregnant. Is it not mine?"

"Of course it is. Why do you think I left? I wasn't going to bring a baby into that house so it could become another target of your violence like I was."

He launched himself at her and slapped her. I had had it. I pulled myself together and grabbed the collar of his shirt, wheeling him for the door. I opened it and kicked him onto the porch.

"She asked you to leave. She wants nothing to do with you. I suggest you go back to Columbus."

Charles lip was bleeding and as he got to his feet, he wiped it with the back of his hand.

"I'm not going to give up that easily Esme!" He called back into the house. "You and the little one will come back to me."

And with that, Charles Evenson stepped off the front porch and into the snowy Chicago afternoon.

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**Hope you liked it. REVIEW!!**


	16. Nightmare of a Disturbance

**DISCLAIMER: I still consider Stephenie Meyer one of the greatest writers of our time. And these characters still belong to her.**

**Well, I am currently more than halfway through my rereading of **_**Breaking Dawn**_** and am reading **_**Prom Nights from Hell**_**…but I have decided to set all of that aside for you guys.**

**And a viewing of **_**Stardust**_**. You love me, right?**

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"I should really move on to my cousin in Milwaukee. I have no right to put all of this on you all when you have been so kind to me." Esme refused to make eye contact with any of us that night after dinner as we sat in the parlor with coffee and dessert. She just made figure-eights with her spoon, staring at the cup in her lap. We all looked at her.

"We can't ask you to do that Esme. Charles will be expecting you to go to Milwaukee and will your cousin be able to fight him off?" I asked her.

"No," she admitted sheepishly. I could tell she knew she needed to stay here to be safe, but I also knew she would go to protect us before thinking to protect herself and her baby.

Bella and I's room, formerly my room, faced the street that Ryland's was on. It was lovely during the summer because we could hear the children in the afternoon's playing whatever game they had come up with to occupy their free time.

Tonight, the sounds that wafted through the closed panes were not the joyful, triumphant cries of children at play. They were fouler on all accounts.

"ESME!!" I was awoken by this cry from the street. I could tell without looking that the man who shouted it was drunk. But when I got up and looked out the window, the fact that Charles Evenson was staggering and holding a bottle concealed in a brown paper bag. He took a swig from it before wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and shouting his wife's name once more.

This cry woke my sleeping angel. She started at Charles' cry before turning to look at me over her shoulder.

"Whaisit?" She asked, her words slurred in her sleepy daze.

"Nothing angel, just a nuisance of a man. Go back to sleep."

Another cry of Esme bellowed from the street. The was a light wrapping on our door. I got up and found Esme, Alice and Mrs. Ryland in their dressing gowns wishing to see the spectacle taking place outside. I obliged them, not wanting them to go downstairs. The only other room that faced the street was the Major's and I knew he wasn't waking up. He had once confessed to me that the only reason he survived when the rest of his battalion was wiped out is because he had slept through the battle. (**A/N: I am not ragging on Jasper when I make jokes like this. It's just a bit of humor. I love Jazz dearly.)**

Mrs. Ryland just shook her head at the scene below her while Esme watched with a horrified expression.

"I should go down there before he causes trouble," I said, as I began to move toward the door. Two hands caught my arm to stop me. I looked down and found Bella's fingers curled tightly around my wrist, no doubt a reflex reaction, and Esme's hand grabbing at the crease of my elbow.

"No, Edward," my angel whispered.

"He's unreasonable when he's like this. And he's not safe."

As if confirming her statement, two gunshots rang through the air. We all looked out the second story window again to see a pistol now being waved high above Charles Evenson's head.

"I am calling the police." Mrs. Ryland said calmly, scooting past all of us to edge out to the hallway below and to the phone.

Esme fell into the chair below the window and began crying, a quiet sob coming from her shaking body every time Charles shouted her name. Alice and Bella were trying desperately to calm her (to no avail), while I watched the man in the street with vengeance in my eyes and malice in my heart.

The sirens came about 10 minutes after Mrs. Ryland had exited our room and took Charles away.

"It's okay Esme," I said, on my knees before her after watching them drive away with her poor excuse for a husband, "he's gone now. He can never hurt you again."

She nodded weakly before mumbling something about wanting to go back to bed. Alice accompanied her to her room and the house went back to sleep.

The next morning, Bella and I awoke and went downstairs similar to the day before. We found only two people in the parlor, both staring into the fire, Mrs. Ryland clutching a paper in her hand.

"What's happened?" I asked, bewildered by their expressions.

Mrs. Ryland didn't look at me; she only extended the hand that held the paper. I took it from her and held it where Bella could read it also.

'_Dear Friends:' _it read,  
_'I appreciate everything you have done for me, but last night proved to me that I am only endangering all of you by staying. It is only a matter of time before Charles' money buys his way out of the Cooke County Jail (as it always does) and I shouldn't be here when that happens. I thought Chicago would be big enough that I could disappear – and for a time, I did. I only pray that Milwaukee will be the same way.  
I shall try to keep in touch and let you know that I have arrived safely and am remaining safe. _

_Edward and Bella: Good Luck with your baby. You will make wonderful parents. I hope you know how lucky you are to have a husband like Edward, Bella._

_Mrs. Ryland: Thank you for everything you gave me and for taking me in when I had nowhere else to go._

_Alice: Thank you for being the sister I never had and bringing enthusiasm and joy to every situation. _

_Major Whitlock: Thank you for your amusing stories about an age long gone where chivalry was still in all gentlemen, not just ones like yourself and Mr. Masen._

_I hold you all dear in my hearts and wished I could have made my goodbyes in person. However, I do not think I would have been able to._

_Best to you all,  
Esme Anne Platt'  
_(**A/N: Platt is her maiden name. You wouldn't want to keep anything of Charles' either, would you?)**

When we had finished reading, the Major appeared in the doorway.

"Did someone set off rockets outside my window last night? I heard 'bangs'."

We all just stared at him, and I heard Bella's mouth pop agape.

"What? What did I miss?"

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**I am dying to know what you are thinking. And I can't know that unless you tell me. I'm no Alice Cullen.  
The reviews really do keep me going guys. They let me know you are enjoying yourselves (or not). **


	17. Birthday Surprises

**DISCLAIMER: I still consider Stephenie Meyer one of the greatest writers of our time. And these characters still belong to her.**

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We got a telegram from Esme a few days later telling us that she had safely gotten to Milwaukee. We didn't write back to tell her that since she had disappeared and there was no one left to press charges, Charles had gotten out of jail. We didn't feel the need to worry her like that. So we simply wrote back that we missed her and hoped she would stay in touch.

We moved from March to June without any further excitement in the house. Bella seemed to grow by the day and I was getting both excited and nervous at the prospect of becoming a father. I worried about whether or not I would be a good father to my child. And I worried about what kind of world my son or daughter would live in.

I worked steadily as the clerk in the bookstore 3 blocks away. We had enough money from my job and what I had inherited from my parents that Bella could have quit her job if she wanted. But she truly enjoyed being a seamstress. And I would let my angel do whatever made her happy. She did work only 3 days a week though, at the insistence of her doctor.

I had a slight spring in my step as I walked home on the afternoon of June 20, 1919. I was 18 today. Losing my parents over a year ago seemed far away now. So much had happened in a year. I was happily married and had a baby on the way. My life seemed to be going so well. I finally had something to live for after losing it all. After never imagining my life ever being whole again.

I wasn't at all surprised to see the banner hanging from the balcony railing when I stepped into the boarding house that proclaimed "HAPPY 18th BIRTHDAY EDWARD!". Alice had let it slip that they were having a surprise party. Alice was horrible at keeping secrets. But I acted surprised for the benefit of Mrs. Ryland and my Bella, who had both spent so much time planning this dinner. My angel had made her spectacular stroganoff from her grandmother's recipe that she knew I loved, but that she didn't particularly care for. But she ate it, just as content in my happiness and I was in hers.

They brought out the cake soon after it, a chocolate cake of Mrs. Ryland's creating, which Alice quickly informed me she had decorated. It was just as delicious as the dinner Bella made for me. After we ate it the girls told the major and me to go sit in the parlor so that I could open my birthday presents as soon as they had finished cleaning up from dinner.

I sat on the sofa reading the discarded sections of the major's paper while he read the ones he had left. I hadn't even finished reading the front page when I heard the crash come from the kitchen, followed almost immediately by a scream of pain. I knew the voice – because even through the agony it conveyed, it was still the voice of an angel.

Bella.

I was on my feet and sprinting across the hall, into the kitchen, before my mind could process what could possibly be happening. I found Mrs. Ryland hunched over Bella and Alice, the former clutching her swollen stomach while the latter held her on the floor.

"Edward, call the doctor," Mrs. Ryland said, steadily, though there was an edge in her voice.

I nodded, not taking my eyes off my Bella, her perfect face twisted in agony. I reluctantly turned and went back into the hallway lifting the receiver of the phone and asking for a doctor. I gave the operator the address absentmindedly, because I could only focus on one thing that I knew.

It was too soon.

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**Hey guys...I know this was short, but I only needed it to be this long. However, since I got this one off so early, you will probably get another chapter today. I am hoping to finish this story over the weekend so I can start my new one. **

**As I have said before, the reviews keep me going and make me write faster. So if you want another chapter quickly, you have to review!!**


	18. The Doctor

**DISCLAIMER: I still consider Stephenie Meyer one of the greatest writers of our time. And these characters still belong to her.**

**Again, I know it's short, but you'll have to deal.**

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_It's too soon. It's too soon._

I chanted this rhythmically in my head, willing my thoughts to become a reality and to make my wife's screams of agony to stop.

I hurried back into the kitchen after the operator had assured me that the doctor was on his way. I edged past the major who was bearing witness to all of this from the doorway of the kitchen, his usually lively face both pale and frightened.

I reached down to my wife's writhing form and gingerly picked her up and carried her out the door and up the stairs to our bedroom. Her cries were hard and full of pain, and her hand clutched at my shirt, her knuckles white from gripping so hard. Tears streamed down her face from the pain she could not control.

When I placed her on the bed and turned to go back downstairs to wait for the doctor, she clutched my right hand with her left and held on tightly.

"Don't leave me Edward." She begged. "I'm scared."

I immediately knelt by the side of the bed, taking the hand she had grabbed me with tightly in both of my own, kissing the top of it softly before kissing each of her fingers and her engagement ring.

"I would never leave you Bella. But you can't leave me either."

She tried to smile but it broke very quickly into a cry of agony and her free hand clutched her stomach.

Just then our door flew open and Mrs. Ryland and Alice came rushing in followed by the doctor. I did a double take when I saw him.

It was the man who had saved my life a year earlier but had been unable to do the same for my parents. The man's face had not aged a day. His golden hair were a nice compliment to his golden eyes which met mine only momentarily before Dr. Carlisle Cullen kneeled on the other side of our bed and began tending to my wife.

As he began looking her over, he said in a very calm voice, "Mrs. Ryland, I will need you to stay and help me. Ms. Brandon, will you please take Mr. Masen downstairs to wait in the parlor with yourself and Major Whitlock."

"I can't leave her," I said, refusing to relinquish the hold I had on her hand, a note of desperation creeping into my voice.

A pale white hand reached across my wife and lay on top of mine. It was ice cold in comparison to the June night air that surrounded us, but I didn't have time to think about that.

I looked up and saw his eyes, amber and intense.

"I will do everything in my power to save your wife and child. But I can't do that with you here. Go."

I nodded my head and fervently kissed the hand of my wife before letting it go.

"I'll be right downstairs Bella. Please hold on for me."

"I love you, Edward" she gasped.

"I love you too, angel."

I felt Alice's hand on my shoulder and she was guiding out of the room and down the stairs into the parlor where the major was already seated. He wasn't reading the paper. He just stared into the fire, his face torn.

He looked up when he saw us enter and he rose from his chair to come over and uncharacteristically give me a hug.

"It's odd." He said, as he returned to his chair. "I never imagined sitting in this chair again with another Cullen doctor upstairs tending to a pregnant woman. He's the spitting image of his father, whose name was also Carlisle. I just hope he can do better than his father did with my Rose."

I stared at the major with a mixture of terror and bewilderment, fervently hoping my story ended differently tonight than his had all those nights ago. If it didn't, I was no doubt getting a glimpse of my future as I looked at the old man in the arm chair.

I sat frozen in my chair for who knows how long, wincing each time I heard my angel's voice cry out in pain. At some point I got up and started pacing, not even noticing when the screams quieted and disappeared.

I had my back to the doorway when I heard a deep voice clear his throat. I spun on the spot and saw Carlisle Cullen standing in the doorway, his expression grave.

I knew what he came to tell me, but I needed to hear him say it, to have him confirm my worst fears. I took two long strides to meet him and locked my eyes on his.

"I am so sorry Mr. Masen. There is _nothing_ I could have done to save her. She was gone too quickly. But you should try to stay strong for her sake. She's going to need you."

I was suddenly confused.

"Isabella Masen died, Edward. But not before delivering you a healthy, albeit premature, baby girl."

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**Poor Edward. I told you I would post again today...I may even post again! But until then, review this one and go wipe your eyes. **


	19. Something to Live For

**DISCLAIMER: I still consider Stephenie Meyer one of the greatest writers of our time. And these characters still belong to her.**

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"_Isabella Masen died, Edward. But not before delivering you a healthy, albeit premature, baby girl."_

Dr. Cullen's words rang in my ears, echoing in my head. My angel, my Bella, my beauty, my darling, my reason for living…my everything was gone. She was gone. My head was reeling around the first part of that sentence while the end of that sentence popped into the front of my head.

I had a daughter. My Bella had given me a daughter. Her final act on this earth was to leave a piece of herself for me behind.

"Where is she?" I croaked, not realizing I had begun to cry. I ran my fingers through my hair.

Carlisle smiled at me slightly. "Mrs. Ryland has her upstairs. I am going to have to take her to the hospital for observation for a few weeks. She's not fully developed, but she is very strong and I am very hopeful for her." **(A/N: Nowadays, babies born after 6 months only have a 15 chance of survival. So this chance is even smaller in 1919.)**

"Can I see her? Them?"

"Of course." He placed a hand around my shoulders and led me up the stairs to my room. I didn't want to go in. I should never have left her. If I hadn't left her, maybe she wouldn't have left me.

Carlisle pushed the door open and the room was dark, except for the light of the waning moon coming through the window (**A/N: June 21, 1919 was the last quarter moon of the month)**. The light that filtered through the window fell across the ashen face of my beloved. If I hadn't known any better, she could have been sleeping. She was truly at peace. I saw Mrs. Ryland at her side. When she saw me, she smiled weakly before approaching me and placing a bundle in my outstretched arms. She was only 12 inches long and could have weighed more than 2 pounds. Her eyes were closed and her mouth was open in a small 'o' as she breathed laboriously.

"I should really get her to the hospital." Carlisle said at me side. I bent my head down to lightly kiss her tiny forehead. "I'll see you soon Elizabeth Isabella."

Carlisle took her from my arms and looked at me. "I'll put that on the birth certificate."

I turned my attention back to the still body of my wife. I went and knelt beside her where I had been not a half an hour earlier. I took the left hand that I had held in both of mine and kissed it as I had earlier that night. I took one of my hands and gently stroked her cheek, flooded with grief at the thought of never seeing it blush again. I still held her hand when I dropped my head into the side of the bed and began to sob.

* * *

There was a garment bag in the back of my closet. It contained a suit I thought I would never wear again after last summer. I had never anticipated this.

It was the suit I had worn to my parents' funerals. On June 22, 1919, I donned it one more time to bury my wife. The service was beautiful. I couldn't have asked for more. It was fitting for the woman to whom I owed my life. The woman who had saved my life.

The woman who gave me something to live for.

* * *

A week later I got a telegram from Esme. It conveyed her sorrow for my loss and her prayers for Elizabeth. She was doing well in Wisconsin. She had even gotten a teaching job. Charles hadn't found her yet. I prayed he never would.

* * *

I quit my job. I had enough money saved up that I could go a while without working. I spent every moment I could at the hospital with Elizabeth Isabella. I was always the first visitor to the hospital each morning and the last one to leave each night. With each day that passed, Carlisle seemed more confident with her chances of survival.

A month after I buried her mother, Carlisle told me that he fully expected Elizabeth Isabella to make it. I was glad that she was going to make it. After another month, Carlisle released her from the hospital and I took her home to Ryland's. My friends were all happy to see her. The girls cooed over her like there was no tomorrow. I was glad to see them happy.

We got a letter from Esme the month I brought Elizabeth home. Enclosed in it was a beautiful picture of mother and child. The baby was all Esme, for which they could both be thankful. I was sad that my baby would never have a picture like that taken.

I visited Bella's grave every Sunday after church with a bouquet of wildflowers like I had given her the night I proposed. I just talked to her. I told her about Elizabeth mostly, and how much I missed her. Sitting at her grave made me feel connected to her still. I knew it couldn't have been healthy for me.

I didn't go back to work at the bookstore. Instead, I worked mostly at night, composing a symphony.

It was called "_Isabella"._

* * *

**Review guys. It's yor second to last chance to...The next chapter will be the last for this story.**


	20. Auithor's Note

**Hey guys. **

**The following is the alternate endings for my story. I just couldn't pick the best way to do it. So I am doing both. **

**JUST SO YOU ARE NOT CONFUSED. THERE ARE SUPPOSED TO BE TWO ENDINGS. YOU CAN PICK WHICHEVER YOU LIKE BETTER.**

**Lots of Love-  
Wannabet-theoriginal**


	21. Epilogue 1: Fate

**DISCLAIMER: I still consider Stephenie Meyer one of the greatest writers of our time. And these characters still belong to her.**

* * *

By New Years 1919, I had finished _Isabella_. It had a beautiful this movement called _Angel_ that was full of strings and woodwinds. I had sent it off to several orchestras around the nation, hoping someone would pay me to perform it. Or just want to perform it. Anything to propel the memory of my angel.

I got a letter that January that the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra's, renamed that year the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, director, John Spargur, asking if I would come and play the piano part of the piece when they debuted it on June 20. I graciously accepted.

I rode the train out there with Elizabeth that summer and instantly fell in love with the city. Mostly because nothing reminded me of my angel. And while I despaired at the thought of losing our city, and my ability to chat with her, I also longed for the ability to forget my grief for just one moment.

So early in 1921, Elizabeth and I moved to Seattle permanently where I accepted a fulltime position with the Symphony as both a pianist and composer. But we didn't leave before getting a telegram from Esme's cousin. Esme had lost her baby to a lung infection. With nothing left to live for, she had jumped from a cliff and was dead.

I wept for a loss of a dear friend, but also at the thought of losing my child. I probably would have flung myself off a cliff as well.

My daughter and I moved to Seattle and she grew up before my eyes more quickly than I could have imagined. The years passed and before I knew it, she was coming home and telling me she was engaged. It was the summer of 1941 and she and Sam were supposed to get married that Christmas. However, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, they pushed up the date so that he could enlist and serve his country.

He left in January of 1942, and by February, Elizabeth knew she was pregnant. She moved back in with me so that we would have each other for company. Elizabeth was the spitting image of her mother, and even had the same glow she had had while pregnant with her. In July, her husband came back, but not as we had hoped. The only thing she had to remember him was the flag they handed her at the funeral, and the daughter born to her that October.

She named her Renee, for her maternal grandmother who had passed away that summer. Marie was her mother's daughter through and through. In July 1963, Marie married a man named Matthew, her high school sweetheart, who had been drafted to go to Vietnam. He came back a year later in a body bag. Except he didn't leave her pregnant.

However, one of her good friends was widowed pregnant and died will giving birth to her baby boy. Marie adopted him as her own, naming him Charles for his father and giving him the last name of her grandmother before she married me, knowing how much her friend had hated her last name. It was nice to finally have a man around the house. I retired from the symphony in the 1970s and moved in with Marie and her son. In 1985, Charlie moved to a small town called Forks and met a woman named Renee and they married November of 1986. September of that year, they had a daughter.

They named her Isabella Marie Swan. Soon after her birth, Renee left, taking the baby with her. It left Charlie devastated, but he still sent us a picture of her every Christmas. It was eerie how much she looked like my long dead wife.

By the time she moved back to Forks to live with her father, I was 104 years old. I didn't leave the nursing home I was in. But I did get the paper every day.

And was stunned when I saw the headline one day.

**SMALL TOWN POLICE CHIEF'S DAUGHTER KILLED IN TRAGIC SCHOOL LOT ACCIDENT**

There was a picture of my great-great granddaughter. She looked so similar to my angel. It seemed no one could hold the angel, Bella Swan, to the Earth for long. No one had been there to save her from that careening van.

I died just two days later. I joined my angels in heaven, after many, many years.

* * *

**So, what did you think of Ending One? Let me know...depressing I know...but Fate is funny sometimes. This ending makes the story that sort of "What IF?" Edward proposed in Eclipse. **

**Ending Two to come soon...**


	22. Epilogue 2: A Different Fate

**DISCLAIMER: I still consider Stephenie Meyer one of the greatest writers of our time. And these characters still belong to her.**

* * *

By New Years 1919, I had finished _Isabella_. It had a beautiful this movement called _Angel_ that was full of strings and woodwinds. I had sent it off to several orchestras around the nation, hoping someone would pay me to perform it. Or just want to perform it. Anything to propel the memory of my angel.

I got a letter that January that the Seattle Philharmonic Orchestra's, renamed that year the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, director, John Spargur, asking if I would come and play the piano part of the piece when they debuted it on June 20. I graciously accepted.

I rode the train out there with Elizabeth that summer, however, the trip was marked with another tragedy when I lost my baby girl, and the only connection I had left to my angel, to pneumonia. I couldn't go back to Chicago when my engagement with the Symphony was over, at least not yet.

So instead, I made my way to Ashland, Wisconsin to see Esme.

I stayed there for 6 months, but then, around Christmastime, Esme's baby developed a lung infection and held on only until the New Year.

I had gone into town that day. So when I walked back up to Esme's cottage, I saw her, in her billowing white dress, standing on the edge of a cliff. I had broken into a full run by the time she had disappeared from its edge. I ran after her while shouting at the cottage, where her cousin was probably sleeping, to call a doctor.

I carefully made my way down the rocky crag toward Esme's broken body. I slipped on the way down. The last thing I remember is the blackness.

* * *

I woke up much later to a new light in my eyes. The pain was unbelievable; the fire burning every inch of my body.

When that was over, I saw a familiar pair of gold eyes hovering above me. They belonged to the face of Dr. Carlisle Cullen. Sitting up in the bed next to me was Esme. She was looking at me as I was looking at her. She looked different, and yet exactly the same.

Carlisle explained to us what we were, and I could hear him speaking out loud and in my mind. It was strange, but I got used to it. It broke me a little more than I already was. I had hoped to just make it through my life without my baby and my angel. Now I had to make it through eternity without them.

In the 30s we picked up two more in our little family. One of them was Rosalie Hale, who I vaguely remembered meeting on Bella and I's honeymoon. She didn't seem to have any recollection of me. She had grown up well, but I had eyes for no one except who I had lost. A few years later, she brought a man into our family named Emmett. Seeing them together and happy and Carlisle and Esme together and happy made me even sadder for what I had lost.

In 2003, we moved to a small, rainy town called Forks on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state. The sun rarely shone, which was good for us. It meant our existence could be semi-normal. Emmett, Rosalie and I all enrolled in High School, though I wasn't exactly sure how I still passed for being a teenager.

Two years later, a new girl arrived at the school. When someone shouted the name in their head, I instantly looked up.

_Bella Swan_.

I had to remind myself this wasn't my Bella. She looked a lot like her though, right down to the chocolate brown eyes.

She sat next to me in Biology and she smelled so tempting that I almost killed her. I ran away after that, not sure if I could take this new mystery whose thoughts I couldn't hear, who looked so much like my angel.

I came back though. And one icy day, a van was careening towards her out of control. And all I could think was 'not her'.

Not again.

I saved her when I could not save my wife. How much she was like my Bella astounded me. And for the first time in almost a century I was happy again.

* * *

**And that ends the story. Which ending did you like better? Happily ever after or Fate is a weird thing?**

* * *

**As always, if you liked this story, you may like my others, so check them out. Also, if you like my style, add me on Author Alert (if you haven't yet) that way you get the alert when I start my next story, which will be another AU, but where everyone is still a Vamp (except Bella).**

* * *

**This story has become the most reviewed of all of my stories…and I have you to thank for that. Thank you to everyone who reviewed:  
AdabellaCullen  
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lovinedward**


	23. NEW STORY

**Hey guys. **

**I have a new story out. It's called Anyone At All. Check it out!!**

**Lots of Love-  
Wannabet-theoriginal**


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